Stay on target

Back in the days of geek prehistory, a T-shirt was a signal to the world around you that you cared about your nerdy pursuits enough to fly them like a flag. Companies like Graphitti Designs contracted with movie studios and comics publishers to create shirts with our favorite characters and sold them up on the walls of comic book stores and through mail-order.

The computer revolution has enabled the T-shirt world to become something totally new – affordable production and distribution means that shirts can be printed in small quantities and sold anywhere in the world. Starting with Threadless, dozens of companies popped up letting artists and designers show their stuff. It’s a better time than ever to be a geek fashionista, and if you’re looking to expand your wardrobe we’re going to help you out every week… on T-Shirt Tuesday.

This week: We’re only a few weeks out from the premiere of Deadpool 2. But you knew that already.

Deadpool Typographic

There’s a lot to love about this shirt by DrComics01 (I wonder if they’re a real doctor?), from the slick type treatment to the minimalist illustration style for half of Pool’s mask and katana hilt. It takes real skill to use so few elements and have them all work together as well as they do on this design. Buckle in, though, because we’re just getting started.

Red Hot Chimi Changas

The Merc with a Mouth is well known for his love of Mexican food in all its forms, but he also has a fondness for 90s alternative funk-punk played by dudes with socks hung on their dingers. Artist presentdom does a fine job mashing up Deadpool’s iconic mask with the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ asterisk logo for this pre-distressed shirt that looks like you wore it in one mosh pit too many.

Hopeless Merc

So let’s get this straight: Roy Liechtenstein ripped off old comics panels for his pop art paintings, and then DiegoPedauye ripped off his paintings for this Deadpool T-shirt? That sounds completely fair to me. When you can break the fourth wall, copyright and intellectual property are just long boring words.

Studio Deadpool

Let’s be safe and say you’re probably going to see your fair share of parodies and mash-ups in this feature, as Deadpool certainly lends himself to that kind of shenanigans. Artist GEEKsomniac (no relation) had the bright if bizarre idea to put the gun-toting mercenary with the ballsack face into the Studio Ghibli logo and the result is tremendously nerdy in the best way.

Tactical Weaponry

Where does he get all those wonderful toys? Oh wait, that’s Batman. Deadpool, though, seems to have an inexhaustible supply of the latest military armaments and ordinance, and we can’t recall him ever running out of bullets. Artist kylewillis uses hundreds of firearms to craft this quirky shot of Deadpool’s mask and an awesome T-shirt is the result.

Full Metal Mayhem

Kudos to designer thedarkcloak for the incredible visual detail on this T-shirt parodying the iconic poster for Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. The top chunk of Deadpool’s head stands in for the Army helmet, with a chimichanga stuck to the side in case he gets hungry. Sure, he doesn’t have a mouth, but healing factors have a way of working this kind of stuff out.

Chibi Deadpool

“Cute” isn’t the first word that comes to mind when we describe a hideously scarred mass murderer in a skin-tight jumpsuit with a face that looks like a dog barfed up its own barf, but somehow artist JacsonX has pulled it off. By using a Japanese anime-influenced “chibi” style, the Merc with a Mouth comes off so cuddly that you might just lose an eye.

Too Kawaii To Live

The list of superheroes who can get away with wearing a French maid uniform is pretty short, but somehow Wade Wilson has done it multiple times. He’s just that comfortable in his own skin, despite most of it falling off on the regular. Artist Red_Flare really pulls out all the stops on this shirt, with a slick Art Nouveau style.

Maximum Effort

It’s not quite a catchphrase, but “Maximum Effort” really sums up the appeal of the Deadpool franchise. Wade Wilson isn’t a stoic silent hero type – instead, he’s a motormouth tryhard who throws his body into deeply dangerous situations because it’s the only way he knows how to feel alive. LightningDesign gives us those words to live by on a simple but stylish shirt.

Wilson Van Merc

If Vincent Van Gogh had Deadpool’s healing power, his ear would have grown right back after he cut it off in a fit of despair in 1888. But we could play “what if” games all day, people. Artist DiegoPedauye musters all of his brushwork in service of replicating the Dutch artist’s famous self-portrait, only with Wade Wilson in his place.

Cable & Wade

One of the things I’m most excited about in regards to Deadpool 2 is the introduction of Cable to the X-universe. In the comics, the metal-armed telekinetic from the future marked the start of the collapse of continuity into a complete mess of crossing timelines and alternate futures, but his friendship with Wade Wilson is always good for laughs. Artist AgentCMYK gives the duo the old Calvin & Hobbes treatment on this charming shirt.